Restore homestead protections, restrict foreclosures, require document disclosure

July 14, 2003

By Don Quixote de la Mancha
Copyright prvtgov.org

Reporter Don Harris carried an activist's views on what is needed to bring justice to homeowners. The article, "Emotions Run High Over Homeowner Asociations" was in the Arizona Capitol Times, July 14th.


One local HOA critic is George Staropoli, president of the Citizens Against Private Government HOAs, based in Scottsdale. Mr. Staropoli, who has served on HOAs in Pennsylvania and New York, says he was opposed to SB1151, an omnibus bill that targeted HOAs, because "the language was vague and it would have hurt homeowners."

"They had three years to work on the bill and they still didn't get it right," he says. "They haven't done their homework. It was too big. They need to cut it down to a smaller bill."

Mr. Staropoli says his nonprofit organization Citizens against Private Government HOAs provides "full and material disclosure of all the factors that can have profound effects on your decision to buy into an HOA controlled property." He notes that an HOA is a private, nonprofit corporation that is subject to corporation laws and not municipality laws.

On his Web site, Mr. Staropoli says, "The HOA is allowed to bypass fundamental governmental protections, including due process against arbitrary actions and the equal protection of the law for homeowners who have grievances against their board of directors."

He says members of HOAs "are second-class citizens with less protection than minorities, women, the handicapped and even gay people." Asked to recall a "horror story" related to an HOA, Mr. Staropoli says, "There are so many."

He tells of a case in which a lawyer sent dunning letters to a condominium owner whose hot water tank was alleged to have caused damage to a condo on the floor below. The lawyer wanted $5,000 to cover the insurance deductible, but the owner of the faulty hot water tank says he never saw any repair work being done or written documentation of the work, Mr. Staropoli says. Eventually, Mr. Staropoli says, he intervened and the lawyer backed off.

"Without proof, that was extortion," he says. Three fixes are needed to better serve homeowners, he says. They are:

* Restore homestead protections.

* Get rid of or restrict foreclosures. CC&Rs are interpreted as a contract. Mr. Staropoli says it's an "adhesion contract," similar to a non-negotiated guarantee or warranty that a person receives after buying an appliance. Such contracts, he says, give one party tremendous power over the other party. "It's unconscionable and against public policy," he says.

* Require full disclosure of documents. "There is nothing in the CC&Rs that tells you the impact, that you lose your constitutional rights," Mr. Staropoli says.